Installing Power

Since last fall we have been paying for electricity. Today we re-installed our old panels and added a couple of extras. Alan pitched in and gave me a hand whenever possible. It was hot outside, but after a couple of hours in the sun I needed a long sleeve shirt to cover up so I wouldn't get sunburned. Seems each time I install panels it's kind of a tradition for me to get burned to a crisp... This time I managed to keep myself relatively unburned.

There are now 6 panels on the roof of the trailer. All screwed and glued in place. Not the greatest picture, but you can see that we have pretty much used up our roof space, so any additional panels will have to go elsewhere.

I get such a wonderful feeling when I see our little charge controller light come on and watch the voltage in our batteries silently rise. There's just something magical about getting all of our power from sunshine. With 6 panels we can make 2-3 Kilowatts in a day here in Quartzsite. That's enough power to run everything we own.

After a full day of panel installation, we sat around a small campfire, drank a few glasses of wine and talked a bit about the future and our current state. It was a good day.